President Donald Trump’s campaign to end the war in Ukraine faced new complications on Monday when Vladimir Putin said he would revise his country’s negotiating position after the Russian leader claimed Ukrainian drones targeted his residence.

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday told his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine after a Russian commander said Moscow's forces were 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from its biggest city.

Putin claims no "willingness from Ukraine" to negotiate a peace deal as he touts battlefield gains, and Kyiv claims a brazen strike on a ship far from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual marathon press conference is perhaps best summarized as a mashup of a municipal board meeting and geopolitical talkfest.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow’s troops are advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine, voicing confidence that the Kremlin’s military goals will be achieved

Vladimir Putin has been accused of secretly grabbing an ultra-luxury £100 million palace on the edge of a cliff in occupied Crimea — complete with a private hospital, operating theatre, cryochamber and gold-plated bathroom fittings.

Russia erupted after an alleged Ukrainian attempt to strike President Putin’s Novgorod residence. Security Council deputy Dmitry Medvedev blasted Kyiv’s leadership, accusing it of seeking war and vowing consequences.

“The Kremlin’s strategic wager was clear: that an incoming Trump administration would force a peace deal on Kyiv and Europe’s capitals, locking in Russia’s territorial gains and fracturing Western unity before Moscow’s own clock ran out. And if it didn’t, the US would withdraw support,” RUSI analysts Dixon and Beznosiuk argue.